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[yummilily]

Butter Cookies (1 h)

I firmly believe family recipes should be shared, so here's THE family recipe I have to offer: my grandma’s butter cookies! There’s probably a lot of people who have fond memories of winters spent picking just the right design for the occasion and staring into the oven until they’re finally done - Just like I have fond memories of being an integral part of my grandmother’s cookie empire since I was old enough to hold a cookie cutter. The woman never did anything casually. And since I can’t even begin to hope to replicate the sheer scale of such an operation, I’m counting on you all to help me out and make these for yourself. (And family and friends if you’re feeling generous.)

Equipment:

Big bowl

Rolling pin

Cookie cutters (see notes)

Pastry brush (or a spoon or your fingers…)

Oven

Baking paper

Ingredients:

200g butter

200g sugar

4 egg yolks 

300g flour + extra for rolling out the dough

200g grated almonds

100g cornstarch

2 satchels vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract to taste)

Lemon juice 

Rum (optional, if you omit this, add some water to get the dough to the right consistency)

1 egg, lightly beaten with a splash of milk

Instructions:

Combine all dry ingredients, then add the egg yolks and knead until a dough forms. Adjust the consistency with lemon juice and rum: not quite moist, but rollable without crumbling.

Chill in the fridge until firm, ideally overnight.

Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan) and line a sheet (or many) with baking paper. Then, roll out the dough to about ½ cm thick on a lightly floured surface. Dust the cookie cutters with some flour as well, so it doesn’t stick.

Place them on the baking tray with a little space in between (they won’t get much bigger than they are, but it’d be sad if they end up stuck together after all that work, wouldn’t it?) and brush each one with the beaten egg.

The baking time for these will largely depend on how big of a cookie cutter you chose. Check in on them after 10 minutes in the oven and take them out once they’re lightly browned.

If you want to decorate these, allow them to cool completely first. Otherwise, snacking is now allowed and encouraged. Don’t burn your tongue!

Enjoy!

Notes:

Yes, I am aware that this recipe makes a lot. Like I said, my grandma didn’t do casual. (But you can downscale this of course.)

Naturally, you can make this with a stand or handheld mixer if you don’t want to knead by hand, but make sure not to overwork the dough. You just need to keep going until it comes together.

Working with the dough too warm (and thus soft) will turn this into a headache. Try to be quick once you take it out of the fridge, do so in portions, or place it back in there if things get too sticky.

If you don’t have cookie cutters, you can make some basic shapes with a knife instead. Form the dough into a looong sausage and cut disks. Go wild modelling freestyle with your hands. It will all be a cookie in the end. (Just try not to make anything too thick, so it bakes through all the way.)

Since baking time varies, try to keep the shapes you pick roughly the same size on each tray.

As for decorations, classics include icing (mix powdered sugar and lemon juice) or melted chocolate, but you could also add some nuts on top or sprinkles or…

[yummilily]

Broccoli Salad (50 min)

Almost an hour for a salad? Sounds like a terrible trade-off, I am aware. But fortunately, you can spend most of it sitting in front of the oven twiddling your thumbs (or writing down recipes like me).

Equipment:

Oven (alternatively a large pot and/or pan)

Baking paper

Large bowl

Ingredients:

500g broccoli

250g sweet potato 

~ 5 tbsp (olive) oil

100g nuts 

1 onion (optional)

100g dates

1 tsp honey (or maple/agave syrup)

1 tsp mustard

juice of half a lemon

100g baby spinach

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 200°C (upper/lower heat) and line a tray with baking paper.

Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Peel and dice the sweet potato. Then toss both with about 2 tbsp (olive) oil, salt and pepper.

Bake for 30-40 min, until softened to your liking and lightly browned. Give this a good mix about halfway through.

In the meantime, prepare the dressing by mixing honey, mustard and lemon juice before adding 3 tbsp of (olive) oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roughly chop the nuts and lightly roast them in a pan. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Optional: Thinly slice an onion. Add a little bit of oil to the pan and fry until browned. If you add a pinch of salt, this will go faster. Once they’re to your liking, give them a minute to cool and add to the dressing.

Chop the dates and throw them in with the dressing.

Relax until the vegetables are done baking. (Or make an extra topping. See notes.)

Add the broccoli, sweet potato and nuts to the dressing and toss to coat evenly. 

You can either add the spinach immediately or give everything a few minutes to cool down, if you don’t want it to wilt. Give it a final taste test for seasoning and you’re done!

Notes:

Not only does this recipe make quite a bit of salad (as something taking a while should, imo), it’s quite filling as is. If you do want something extra, though, you can use the spare time while waiting for the veggies to bake to make some chickpeas or crispy tofu. Or if you’d rather not do anything but make the dressing while waiting, honestly, just the broccoli and sweet potato are great as a dish. Consider everything done while waiting on those making it a little more fancy. It doesn’t need to be.

Instead of sweet potato, you can use pretty much any other vegetable. I just like the orange in there. It looks nice. But most other things also shouldn’t need longer than 40 min in the oven.

If you don’t have an oven (like I used to for the longest time), you can blanch and/or fry the veggies.  

[yummilily]

Crispy Ground Tofu (15 min)

There’s no actual grinding involved in making this, but you will end up with something serving a similar purpose as ground beef. Put it in a wrap, use it in a sauce, top a salad with it. Anything goes.

Equipment:

Pan (ideally large enough to spread the tofu in a single layer)

Ingredients:

1 block of extra firm tofu (drained)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Seasonings to taste 

Instructions:

Using your hands, crumble the tofu into small pieces.

Make sure the oil is hot (medium-high) before adding the tofu to the pan. Spread it out in one layer.

Do NOT touch this for the next 5 minutes. Let it do its thing. It will get crispy on the bottom.

Flip! Mix! Basically, unleash all the stirring you so desperately wanted to do the last 5 minutes. Get it out of your system, then leave the pan alone again.

Proceed with this until everything is browned to your liking.

Lastly, season any way you like. Maybe you want to use this in tacos? Add some soy sauce and ginger? You do you.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Really, the only trick here is to resist the urge to stir. I know you want to. Don’t do it.

[yummilily]

Lentil bolognese sauce (~20 min)

This is heavily inspired by my bestie’s vegan lasagna, but whenever that feels like too much work, just having the sauce with some pasta is a great alternative. 

Makes about 1 L.

Equipment:

A large pot

Garlic press (optional)

Ingredients:

oil for the pot (olive or vegetable)

1 carrot

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp tomato paste 

150g red lentils

2 tbsp soy sauce

500g sieved tomatoes

~200-300ml water

basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary… (or the good ol’ Italian spice mix) to taste

salt and pepper

Instructions:

Heat the oil in the pot and dice the carrot and onion. Mince the garlic (or use a garlic press). Sauté the carrot and onion for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic. After another minute, add the tomato paste and sauté until fragrant. 

Mix in the red lentils and add the soy sauce, sieved tomatoes and water.

Season to taste.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes, until the lentils are cooked. 

Notes:

As a rule of thumb, I use twice as much water as lentils. However, you may want to adjust the amount depending on how thick you like the sauce to be. Start out with 200ml, you can always add more if need be. Generally, I make this more liquidy when I intend to use it in lasagna (the pasta needs the extra water to cook), thicker when I use it as a regular sauce.  

This should work just as well with any other kind of lentil, but you may need to adjust the cook time and amount of water.

[yummilily]

Coco-Mango Yoghurt (15 min)

This is a recipe born from desperation: No dessert in the house. That cannot stand. 

Equipment:

Pan

Blender

Ingredients:

1 ripe mango

400g yoghurt

5 tbsp coconut flakes

Sweetener of your choice to taste

Vanilla extract (just a drop or two)

1 tsp lemon or lime zest (optional)

A splash Batida de coco (optional)

Instructions:

On medium heat roast the coconut flakes until lightly browned. Be careful not to burn them.

Blend the mango (and lemon/lime zest). Set aside.

Mix the yoghurt with the coconut flakes and vanilla. Sweeten to taste and add the liqueur if you like. 

You can alternate when layering the yoghurt and mango in dessert bowls or (if you’re lazy like me) put the yoghurt and the mango puree on top. 

[yummilily]

Cinnamon Rolls

(20 min prep / 1 hour rest / 15 min bake)

I was thinking on what to say about this recipe as my dough is proving, but my brain is only loudly screaming “CINNAMON” at me. I think that sums it up fine though.

Makes about 30.

Equipment:

Large bowl

Small bowl

Stand mixer (optional)

Rolling pin

Sharp knife

Pastry brush

Ingredients:

75g butter for the dough + ~50g for the filling

250ml milk

21g fresh yeast (half a cube or 1 packet instant yeast)

500g flour + some extra for rolling out the dough

75g sugar for the dough + 65g for the filling

A pinch of salt

Cardamom to taste (about half a tsp works for me)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

A splash milk

Instructions:

In a small bowl, melt the butter and add the milk. Make sure they are well mixed and lukewarm before crumbling the yeast in and dissolving it completely. Give it a moment to get going. Prepare the dry ingredients in the meantime.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and cardamom. 

If you have a stand mixer, I recommend using that, but the dough isn’t that moist, so hands work just as well. It’s a bit of a workout though. Slowly add the milk to the dry ingredients and knead until a smooth dough forms, about 5 minutes.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes, until doubled in size. If you haven't already, take the butter for the filling out of the fridge, so it has time to soften.

While the dough is proving, prepare the filling by mixing sugar and cinnamon together.

Generously dust your working surface with flour, cut the dough in half and roll one of them out into a rectangle, about ½ cm thick. Spread half of the butter on the dough and sprinkle with half of the sugar-cinnamon mix. If you want to add any extras like fruit or nuts, now’s the moment. 

It’s time to roll! I prefer doing so from the wider side of the rectangle, which results in smaller cinnamon rolls, but you can do it the other way round if you want fewer big ones. Either way, make sure to do so firmly and tightly or they will unravel during baking. Cut into pieces, about 2.5cm thick, and place on a baking tray with some space in between.

Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to prove a second time in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (upper-lower heat). Beat an egg with a splash of milk.

After the second rise, brush with the egg wash, then bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes: 

This recipe works great as a base for any kind of filling. Two of my favourites are adding some apple and/or raisins. Nuts are fantastic too! Just keep an eye on how quickly things brown in the oven. Especially stray raisins sticking out at the top of the rolls are prone to burning quickly.

If you want it extra sweet and sticky, briefly take the rolls out with about 5 minutes on the clock left to brush them with maple syrup. 

You can make these in advance and keep them in the freezer (before brushing them with the egg). Allow them to thaw and then bake.

[yummilily]

Blueberry Citrus Tiramisu (30 min)

Perhaps calling this Tiramisu is a bit of a stretch, but there’s mascarpone and ladyfingers and... I’m noticing a trend: Sorry, Italians. Extensive exposure to your cuisine during my youth has changed me forever and motivates my crimes. Please, take it as a compliment.

Equipment:

A deep dish, i.e. for a casserole (mine is approx. 25 x 17 cm)

Bowl

Mixer (or a whisk if you feel like working out)

Citrus juicer (optional)

Ingredients:

200g ladyfingers (enough for 2 layers in your dish)

300g mascarpone

1 fresh egg

2 tbsp sugar

300g blueberry compote / fruit spread

200ml orange juice 

½ - 1 lemon

A handful fresh blueberries (optional)

Instructions:

In a bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until fluffy. You want this to be as white as you can get it. Then, add the mascarpone and continue until you have a smooth mousse. It should be light and easily spreadable. If it’s too thick, you can add a little bit of cream (or milk or liquor). If it’s too thin, you’ll need more mascarpone. It all depends on the size of the egg.

Zest and juice the lemon. If you want to, you can keep a little bit of the zest for decoration, otherwise add both to the orange juice. Adjust the sweetness to your liking. It should be tart enough to offset the blueberry compote.

Place a layer of ladyfingers in your dish, then spoon the fruit juice onto them until thoroughly soaked. 

Using about half of the total amount each, next add a layer of blueberry compote, then the mascarpone cream. They might combine a little, but that’s completely fine. Consider it an art project. Make some swirls if you want to.

Repeat the previous steps with another layer of soaked ladyfingers, compote and mascarpone. 

Now, you can top the tiramisu with some fresh blueberries and lemon zest. 

Rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours, so the biscuits have time to soften thoroughly. 

Enjoy!

Notes:

I know that eating raw egg isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, even when it’s fresh, so in case that makes you uncomfortable, you can substitute this by adding a few tablespoons of cream, milk or liquor (Cointreau for example should work well to enhance the orange flavour.) to the mascarpone. It might not be as rich as when using the egg, but especially in summer this is a great alternative if you intend to have it out of the fridge for a while.

The blueberry compote you can either make yourself by cooking 300g (frozen) blueberries with 30g sugar and 50 ml water, thickening it with a teaspoon or two of cornstarch if necessary, or - and tbh, that’s what I do most of the time - buy it premade. Just make sure that you grab one that isn’t too sweet.

[yummilily]

Jam (40 min)

I have to admit, I grew up a spoiled child. With a grandmother single-handedly supplying the entire town with jam, I never had to resort to the store-bought kind until long after she passed and all her stock was used up. Fortunately, she taught me well. And what better time to put the skill to use than in summer with a plethora of in season fruits at your disposal? The results of a few minutes suffering the heat of stirring in a bubbling pot are well worth the effort in my opinion. 

Equipment:

A large pot (and I really mean large, you don’t want this to be more than half full)

Clean jars and fitting lids

A timer 

A small plate / bowl that easily has space in your fridge

Funnel (optional)

Oven mitts or a dry kitchen towel

Damp cleaning cloth (or something of the sort)

Ingredients:

These are highly customisable. Depending on the type of sugar you're using, you’ll need up to 1.5 kg of fruit / 1.5 L of fruit juice per 500g packet of gelling sugar (essentially just regular sugar with pectin mixed in). The main difference regarding the sugar is its intended ratio to the fruit. The most common ones I’ve seen are 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 (sugar:fruit). Other than the jam’s sweetness (obviously) the kind you use will influence how shelf-stable it is. The higher the sugar content, the longer you can store it. That being said, I normally use the 1:2 and I’ve never once ran into the issue of the jam going bad before it was all devoured. (That being well over a year when making a large batch. Some of my grandma’s have been forgotten in the cellar for almost 10 and they still were fine. Just trust your eyes and nose when opening up a jar. And label them with the date made.)

It’s perfectly fine to use frozen fruit. Just let it thaw before you get started. 

I recommend adding some lemon juice (about 1 lemon per kg). It helps with thickening the jam and is especially important when you’re using very sweet fruit. The gelling sugar usually has some citric acid added, but I find that adding the fresh lemon helps. Also it offsets the sweetness a bit.

Other than that, go wild! You can add spices, herbs, liquor (you might want to add that after cooking though)... Just make sure you keep the ratio specified on the sugar and you’ll be just fine!

Instructions: 

If you’re using fresh fruit, wash it well, pat dry and cut into small pieces. If you prefer a smooth jam, you can blend it. 

Add all ingredients to a large pot and mix well. Make sure it’s only about half full max. 

Now, most gelling sugar package instructions will tell you to let everything sit for at least a few hours, but honestly, I find that it doesn’t really make a difference to skip this step if you’re in a hurry. It won’t hurt to wait, but it won’t ruin your jam if you don’t.

Before you start cooking, you’ll need to sterilise the jars. (And don’t forget the lids either!) There’s many ways of doing this and a quick online search will give you many results, like putting them through a hot cycle in the dishwasher. Because I don’t have one, my go to method is to first give them a good scrub and then rinse them with boiling water from the kettle, leaving them upside down on a clean kitchen towel until filling. Getting them up to temperature now will also prevent any glass cracking when filling with the hot jam.

While stirring, bring the jam to a boil. The bubbling kind, you really want this going. Once it does start your timer. In most cases it will be 4 minutes, but check the package instructions for specifics. Make sure to keep stirring, you don’t want anything getting stuck to the bottom of the pot.

The jam might produce foam (hence the big pot). If you want to, you can remove it with a spoon, but that’s mainly an aesthetic thing. (Theoretically, the trapped air could contaminate the jam and make it go off faster, but I have yet to witness that happening.)

Once time’s up, reduce the heat to low and spoon out a little bit of the jam onto a plate and put it in the fridge. This is to check if the gelling worked. The jam should start to thicken quickly when cooling. If it’s still too runny, boil it a little longer. If it’s too thick, add a little water. 

When you’re happy with the consistency, remove the pot from the heat and start filling the jars. I do this holding the jar in one hand with an oven mitt (because this will get uncomfortably hot very quickly) ladling the jam in with the other. If the opening of the jar is very small, a funnel can be helpful (make sure that is also sterilised!). Fill it up until just about the brim. Now, if there’s any spills, wipe the screw-top clean. You’ll thank yourself later when you try opening it again. Tightly close the jar and place it upside down.

Repeat until you’re out of jam. I always have an odd amount left that isn’t quite enough for a whole jar. That’s fine though. Simply eat that first.

Allow the jam to cool for about 5 minutes before flipping the jars.

Enjoy!

Notes:

While the sugar content certainly plays a role in preserving, the most important thing is that all your utensils are clean. It’s a bit of work, yes, but ending up with mouldy jam would be worse, right?

[yummilily]

Pesto Pasta Salad (30 min)

This is another Lily Classic - one I’ve brought to barbecues countless times and never had to take back any leftovers. It’s the thing a group of guests devours from the same pot at 3 am (perhaps slightly inebriated), because compared to mayo-based salads, this will still be great after hours outside. 

Equipment:

A big pot for the pasta

Bowl large enough to comfortably mix all ingredients

Ingredients:

500g pasta (Penne’s my favourite.)

1 jar pesto rosso (190g)

250g tomatoes (Any work, but I prefer smaller ones with less moisture.)

1 jar sun dried tomatoes (about 125g when drained)

125g mozzarella (You can use these little balls if you’re feeling fancy.)

Salt

Basil

125g arugula (optional)

Instructions:

Boil the pasta. Make sure it’s al dente, don’t let it get too soft.

In the meantime, cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into bite-size pieces. Give the dried tomatoes a chop as well if they’re big. Add to the salad bowl.

Once the pasta is ready, drain and immediately rinse with cold water. You might find this blasphemous, but it will stop the pasta from continuing to cook, ensuring that it doesn’t mush when you toss the salad. (Also, it means you won’t have to wait for it to cool down before continuing.)

Add the pasta and the pesto to the bowl. Mix well until everything is evenly coated in the pesto. Add salt and basil to taste. 

Optional: If you have some especially long, impractical arugula leaves, you can just tear them into smaller pieces before adding them to the salad. 

The salad tastes best after being chilled imo, so if you’re not in a hurry, give it some time in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Notes:

About the rinsing of pasta: I wouldn’t recommend you doing this if you’re making a hot pasta dish, but for our purposes here, it does exactly what it is supposed to. As I mentioned, you won’t end up with overcooked pasta and the individual pieces will be nice and loose, creating a light texture for the salad. I’ve tried this recipe both with and without rinsing and I find that when it comes to how well the pesto sticks to the pasta, there’s no significant difference.

About adding arugula: If you’re preparing this ahead of time, I would recommend adding the arugula only shortly before serving. It just looks nicer than having it sit in there for hours. When I make this salad to just eat by myself at home, I just add a handful on top of every bowl I have.

Speaking of eating this alone: You absolutely can make only half of this recipe if you don’t want to eat pasta salad for 2 days straight. I simply detest having an open jar of pesto sitting in my tiny fridge, so the recipe is catered to using up the entire thing. (And, conveniently, one bag of pasta. The same goes for most other ingredients. No measuring required.)

[yummilily]

Pizza Toast (15 min)

I think originally my parents and I tried this at a local fair, but it’s so quick and easy to make, it has been a staple in my family ever since. If you’re craving pizza, but don’t have a frozen one on hand and lack the patience to make the dough from scratch, this is the way to go!

Equipment

Oven

Toaster (optional)

Ingredients

1 slice of toast

1 tbsp tomato paste

Italian spice mix

Salt

Toppings of your choice

~30g cheese (I use mozzarella) 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (upper / lower heat).

Optional: Lightly toast the bread. You really don’t want this to get too dark, because it’s still going into the oven, but giving it a light toast first will prevent it from turning soggy.

Evenly spread the tomato paste and season it to taste. Then add your toppings.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is sufficiently melted. If your oven has a broiler setting, you can turn that on for some extra colour.

Enjoy!

Notes

The thing to burn first when making this is the tomato paste, especially where it’s thin around the edges, so keep an eye on that!

You’ll likely want more than one of these. Toasters fit two slices for a reason.

[yummilily]

Caponata (40 min)

I’m not Italian, so I hope I don’t mortally offend someone. But this is how my mum makes it and for a lack of a better word, I’m going to stick with calling it Caponata. It’s a great dish for summer, because it tastes just as good cold as it does straight from the pot! 

Equipment:

Stove

Medium size pot

Ingredients:

~400g eggplant (that’s like two big ones)

2 tbsp oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can tomatoes, diced (400g)

400 ml orange juice

1-2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

2 handfuls raisins

2 tbsp Italian spice mix (basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary…)

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cut the eggplant into ~2cm pieces, salt thoroughly and let sit for about 10 minutes. Rinse off the excess salt and squeeze out the water.

On medium-high to high heat, coat the bottom of the pot with oil and once hot, add the eggplant. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic and fry until fragrant, then add the tomatoes, juice and raisins.

Reduce the heat to low, season and let simmer with the lid on for about 25 min or until the eggplant is completely soft.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Usually, I just eat this as is with some bread on the side, but pasta / rice also works!

[yummilily]

Recipe Directory

Time:

< 15 min < 30 min < 45 min < 1 h > 1 h

Type of dish:

drink pasta rice soup wrap salad

Breakfast foods

Baked Goods

Desserts

Vegetarian

Vegan

[yummilily]

Tuna-Mayo Rice Bowl (25 min)

I suppose you could call this a “deconstructed tuna-mayo onigiri”, but considering this is what I make when I’m too lazy to actually shape them, that sounds way too fancy. The most time consuming part of this recipe is cooking the rice (unless you have leftovers), but fortunately once that is set up doing its thing, you’re free to prepare everything else while you wait.

Equipment:

Rice cooker / pot (I’m not going to go into the details on how to cook rice here. It’s a science many people online have already explained much better than I ever could.)

Ingredients:

1 cup rice (I prefer short grain, but since you’re not shaping it into rice balls, any will work.)

1 can tuna (150g)

1 tbsp mayo

1 tbsp soy sauce

~7cm piece cucumber (optional)

1 avocado (optional)

Furikake, or a nori sheet cut up into very small pieces

Instructions:

Cook the rice.

In the meantime, dice the cucumber and avocado if you’re using them. 

Drain and loosen the tuna with a fork. Mix well with mayo and soy sauce.

In a bowl, put the rice as a base and top it with the cucumber, avocado, tuna and furikake. 

Enjoy!

Notes:

If you have some of the tuna-mayo mix left over, it also makes a great sandwich topping!

[yummilily]

Wraps: Chickpea Edition (~15 min)

I don’t know what it is about wrapping stuff in tortillas, but it’s been one of my favourite ways of eating just about anything for the longest time. And chickpeas just so happen to be something I always have on hand, so this recipe is a win for me all around. Hopefully, you’ll think so too!

Considering my love for all things “wrap”, this will likely not be the last recipe of this kind, but I thought it a good place to start for one reason specifically: As much as I’ve always loved them in theory, I did struggle with the right wrapping technique for years, until finally finding the one explanation that worked for me on Youtube, which I wanted to share. Your preferences might be different, but if you have no idea how to go about it, try this!

Equipment:

Microwave or pan

Sieve

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas (265g drained)

2 wraps (⌀ about 25 cm)

Other than that, it’s up to you. Chickpeas are extremely versatile and you can season them just about any way you want! Try recreating some of your favourite foods in chickpea form, like a curry or roast chicken, or with one of my go-tos:

BBQ style:

1-2 tbsp BBQ sauce

Salt and pepper

~1 tsp (smoked) paprika

2 handfuls lettuce

2 tbsp sour cream

½ bell pepper, diced or cut in thin strips

Curry style:

1 tbsp curry powder

Salt and pepper

2 tsp oil

2 handfuls baby spinach

2 tbsp yoghurt

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

Caprese:

1 tbsp basil

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

125g mozzarella, diced

2 tomatoes, diced 

2 handfuls arugula

Balsamic glaze

Instructions:

Drain and rinse the chickpeas well. 

Now you have two options: Either pat them dry and use them as is, or put them on a plate (on a paper towel) to heat in the microwave or in a pan on medium high heat. Here are two short videos for the microwave and pan version each! 

Evenly mix the chickpeas with all spices and/or sauces.

Warm the tortillas in the microwave or on the stove. I wet them a little first (just holding my hand under running water for a second and spreading that over the tortilla) to prevent them from drying out and making them more flexible.

Now it’s time to assemble! For wrapping newcomers, I would recommend starting with less filling than you think you can handle. You’ll get there, but allow yourself to practise the roll first. Now wrap!

Optionally, place the wrap in a hot pan with the seam down to seal it. While you’re at it, lightly toast the other side as well.

Enjoy!

Notes:

When placing the fillings, I like to start with some sort of sauce as a base, usually sour cream, to make things stick in place a little. I layer on any leafy greens last, because that keeps things from getting too messy when you have to get a good grip for tucking the filling in and rolling. 

I highly recommend using some sort of sauce in this, regardless of what kind of flavour you're going for. Otherwise the chickpeas would be very dry. That being said, the less runny the sauce, the easier it will be to wrap.

You can absolutely make these the night before and keep them in the fridge for a quick breakfast the next morning!

[yummilily]

Banana breakfast smoothie (5 min)

There’s practically no way to make this look aesthetic, so you’ll have to do without a picture. (Imagine a light brown smoothie.) But trust me what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in flavour. 

Equipment:

Blender

Ingredients:

1 banana (frozen*)

1 tbsp peanut butter

25g oats

250ml milk

Cinnamon and nutmeg

Sweetener of your choice to taste

Instructions:

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Notes:

It doesn’t really matter whether you use a fresh or frozen banana, but I like to buy them when they’re on sale and freeze them in portions to have ready when I need them for a quick snack like this. If you want your smoothie cold even with a fresh one, just add a few ice cubes instead.

I find that the blended oats are an absolute pain to get rid of if you allow them to dry, so I recommend either cleaning everything right after or soaking until you have the time and energy to deal with it.

Some blenders struggle with frozen stuff, especially if the pieces are too big, but if you take out the banana a few minutes in advance, it should work fine!

[yummilily]

Pasta casserole (10 min prep / 20 min bake)

The great thing about this? You can make it with practically anything and it’ll taste good. Gnocchi or tortellini are my personal favourite, but any kind of pasta or even potatoes will work just as well. The only real difference will be the total time and potentially cooking something on the stove before popping the casserole in the oven. But if you want to, you can make this recipe without chopping anything. I find this both a very comforting and convenient dish to make!

Equipment: 

Oven

Stove (Depends on what pasta you’re using, see notes)

Casserole dish (or anything oven safe really)

Ingredients:

250g pasta (or leftover potatoes… rice would probably work too)

2 tbsp tomato paste (or ready made tomato sauce or canned tomatoes...)

200ml cream (milk also works)

Spices! I use dried basil, Italian spice mix and garlic. 

Salt to taste

125g cheese, I use mozzarella

Optionally: (cherry) tomatoes / spinach / mushrooms… 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 200°C upper and lower heat.

In the casserole dish mix the tomato paste (or whatever shape or form of tomato you’re using) with the cream and spices.

Add the pasta to the mix and stir until everything is nicely coated in the sauce.

Optional: Add any vegetables (fresh or frozen), chopped to your preferred size. Cherry tomatoes or spinach are great when you can’t be bothered, but anything goes. You can layer them on top of the pasta or mix them in.

Lastly, cover the whole thing with cheese. As much as you want.

Bake on the middle rack for 20 - 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown. If your oven’s got a broiler setting, the last ~5 min of baking are a great time to use it for some extra colour and crisp on that cheese… Just keep an eye on it.

I know you’re hungry, but give it a minute to cool down before digging in. Trust me, I have made this mistake many times.

Enjoy!

Notes:

The biggest difference your type of pasta is going to make is whether to boil it in advance or not. If you’ve got any precooked kind that’s been sold refrigerated, no need! In any other case, I would suggest boiling it on the stove beforehand or - even better if you have them - using leftovers. Doing it that way allows you to better control how soft your pasta turns out and how much sauce will be left in the end. But if you don’t have the energy (fair), my rule of thumb is to use twice as much liquid as pasta and up the time in the oven to ~40 min. It boils down (haha) to the specific type of pasta, so make sure everything is covered by liquid and poke it with a fork to see if it’s soft before taking it out.

[yummilily]

French Toast (15 min)

It’s the weekend and that - aside from the obvious benefits of having an excuse to avoid work - means it’s time for one of my favourite things: “Fancy” breakfast. Considering how easy this recipe is to make, that may sound like an overstatement. But trust me, it’ll be just as good as if you paid for some exquisite brunch at a stylish cafe. 

Equipment:

Stove

Frying pan

Dish big enough to fit the bread slices

Ingredients:

4 slices of bread 

3 eggs

15g vanilla sugar*

150ml milk

Oil or butter for the pan

Instructions:

Place your pan on medium heat and add the oil / butter.

While that heats up, in a dish large enough to fit the bread slices, mix the eggs, milk and vanilla sugar well. Soak the bread for 1 minute on each side, then place in the pan.

Flip once the bottom is lightly browned and bake on the other side as well.

Top your french toast with butter, fruit, syrup, chocolate spread… or simply enjoy it as is!

Notes:

I’ve been told that “vanilla sugar” isn’t a thing internationally, but it’s what I’m most used to using when making something that doesn’t need to be super vanilla-y and is cheap and convenient to keep in the pantry. Basically it’s just sugar with vanilla aroma, so you can easily recreate this by using normal granulated sugar and a little bit of vanilla extract or whichever shape or form of vanilla you happen to have on hand. No worries if you don’t, it’ll taste great either way.

Something I like doing if I want to get a little fancier than simply adding raw fruit, is cutting an apple in small pieces and cooking it in a small pot with some butter. Add about a tablespoon of sugar for some extra browning and caramelisation and season it with cinnamon and nutmeg. You can also add some nuts and raisins to the mix!